In typical photofinishing operations a user (sometimes referenced as a customer) delivers one or more film rolls carrying corresponding exposed filmstrips, to a processing laboratory to have them chemically developed and hardcopies of the images (such as paper prints) prepared. Individual filmstrips are spliced together end to end to form a larger roll which is easily handled by automated equipment. Following chemical processing of the roll to yield permanent images on the filmstrips, each image is pre-scanned at high speed to obtain image characteristics, such as color and density. These characteristics are passed to an optical printer which uses the characteristic data to adjust exposure conditions (such as duration, color filters, and the like) of an image frame on the developed filmstrip which is optically projected onto a photosensitive paper. The exposed photosensitive paper is then chemically developed to yield the final hardcopy prints. In modern photofinishing operations, images may optionally also be scanned to provide an image signal corresponding to each image on the film. These image signals are usually stored on a medium such as a magnetic or optical disk and provided to the customer, or made available to the customer over the Internet, and may be used then or at a later time to provide a hardcopy output. When the customer order is completed, the film is cut into strips (for 35 mm film) or reattached to a film cassette (for Advanced Photo System films), the exposed paper is cut into individual prints, and the film, completed prints and any other media (such as a disk bearing scanned images) are packaged at a finishing station and the order is then complete. Recently it has been described that in the foregoing type of photofinishing operation, the optical printer can be replaced with a digital printer which will print the images directly from the scanned data.
During fulfillment of the customer order, exposed prints on the photosensitive paper from the printer are visually inspected by an operator for errors (such as color or density errors) or rejects (such as images in which a customer's hand covered the camera lens). This is accomplished by unwinding an exposed roll of paper from the printer past a flat viewing area at which the operator is positioned. If prints are visually out of specification, the operator will physically so mark them with a sticker, grease pen, or some other means. The marks may include suggested corrections. The marks alert a finishing station operator to set aside the prints (and the entire order) so it can be corrected ("made over"). Prints marked as errors or rejects are discarded and not charged to the customer. Customer orders with errors or rejects are set aside by the finishing station operator and are sent to a laminating station. Alternatively, the suggested corrections could be transferred electronically to the printer.
At the laminating station cut strips of film are laminated together end to end, as required, and each order laminated end to end to provide a laminated reel of orders requiring re-processing. The laminating station operator enters the corrections required for each image into a computer connected to the printer, and these orders are then re-printed using such printer corrections. The resulting prints are then cut as before, and the order re-assembled for completion. While laminating is not required in the case of errors or rejects in Advanced Photo System ("APS") films, re-printing is still required.
A difficulty with the above procedure is that the printer is unable to make proper adjustments for every image prior to printing, based on the received image characteristics. Thus, errors or rejects will still occur. This necessitates the tedious, time consuming, and expensive manual screening of all prints as described above and sending errors or defects through the lamination and re-printing process described above. Furthermore, a complete customer order is held up if even just one image has an error or is defective. These problems can be particularly serious in wholesale photofinishing labs where film is processed at the rate of 200 images per minute or more (typically greater than 250 images/minute).
It would be desirable then, particularly at film processing rates encountered in a wholesale photofinishing environment, to reduce screening, lamination and re-printing of images as much as possible and to reduce delays in customer orders due to correcting images with error or defects.